


you're the one for me (did you know that?)

by natashass



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flowershop, F/F, florist!nayeon, tattoo artist!chaeng
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 17:22:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6575236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natashass/pseuds/natashass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chaeyoung is suffering from whiplash and a painful headache, but she’s seeing Nayeon tomorrow, and there’s a potted plant on her bedside that she names Monet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're the one for me (did you know that?)

**Author's Note:**

> this was a fic I wrote months ago because of rina's art and ok I have to continue it soon enough
> 
> also this was my first twice fic and now i'm writing like, 20 fics for both mamamoo and twice, at the same time. SAVE ME

“We are _not_ talking about this, Dahyun. I’m busy.”

“Okay, but admit it, we can’t not talk about it.” Dahyun presses further into the counter that Chaeyoung is surprised the wood of her table has not bent her best friend in half. She focuses on the paper in front of her. Chaeyoung is not going to lose one client just because Dahyun is pestering her about going on a blind date.

“No. We can’t not not talk about it.”

This makes Dahyun pause her pestering. The girl gives up halfway through trying to figure out how that double negation (or quadruple negation?) works. “Okay, now you’re just being difficult.”

“No, you’re being difficult.”

“If you use your weird mind tricks with me one more time, I’ll...I’ll tell Jihyo.”

Chaeyoung lifts her head up from her work. Dahyun has that smirk on her face—she knows everyone feared Jihyo when they’re being hard-headed. “You’ll what?”

Dahyun crosses her arms. “You heard me.”

“What does Jihyo have to do with this?”

“You know she hates it when you mope around.”

That’s true—Chaeyoung has been moping around, as much as she wanted to deny it. That date with the cute client, who had asked Chaeyoung for her number, didn’t go well. She was very cute—pretty eyes and a nice name.

Of course, she fucked it up, like every possible romantic relationship in the past few years.

(“I’m so sorry, Somi. You’re great and you’re very nice and you’re very pretty and… I’m an idiot.”

Somi averts her eyes. It’s enough to tell Chaeyoung that she, as a potential partner, is every bit of the idiot she says she is.)

Chaeyoung, however, is not about admit defeat. “I do not mope.”

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

“You do, too. Come on, Chaeng. Just a few drinks with the girls. Please? It’s payday Friday, and we’re young and wild and—”

Chaeyoung spins her boss chair around, thinking about a cockamamie excuse to play video games until the asscrack of dawn arrives. “I have to visit my parents.”

“They’re in America.”

“Jeongyeon wants me to deliver her baby.”

“Do you really think your sister and her girlfriend are ready when just a while ago they set fire to omelettes.”

“The drug cartel Momo and I are running needs me to travel to Budapest.”

“Mina would kill both of you before you even think about making that happen.”

“I have to water my plants tonight.”

Dahyun pinches the bridge of her nose. “Really, Chaeng? You don’t even have any plants! You running a drug cartel is more likely to happen than you owning anything green and remotely alive!”

“Okay, Hyun, now you’re just being mean.” Chaeyoung crosses her arms stubbornly. Dahyun does the same, now they’re locked into a very intense staring game.

Her best friend is just about as intimidating as a tofu cube in miso soup, Chaeyoung laughs because of course, Dahyun breaks the stare first. “Ugh. I hate you. You’re always better than me at staring at someone condescendingly. But my point still stands, Chaeyoung! The girls miss you tons and we miss our tiny and harmful baby girl.”

It was true. She did miss the girls and it’s been quite some time since they went out for a night out. They’ve all been busy, even if their workplaces were only a few blocks away from one another. As much as it seemed like she is thoroughly annoyed by Dahyun’s persistence to string her along, she had made up her mind earlier and decided to go when Dahyun first asked. It was just funny seeing Dahyun turn red from annoyance and frustration. “Okay. I’ll go.”

“You’re going?” Dahyun nearly breaks the mahogany table of Chaeyoung’s office. It’s not as if she could resist the girls anyway and while she loved Dahyun dearly (don’t tell her, though), she isn’t going to get any work done while she’s here, nearly breaking Chaeyoung’s mahogany table. She takes Chaeyoung’s head in her arms and embraces it and Chaeyoung is 257.6% sure that her head was going to snap off. “We promise we won’t embarrass you!”

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes. She decides not to hold her friends to that—they were going to break it anyway and find a way to embarrass her. “Yeah, yeah. Now scoot, Doobs, I’ve got grown up things to do.”

“Like what? Draw? Are you saying my barista activities are not grown ups activities?”

“No, but I don’t see you get paid to ogle at that cute college student that comes in during your shifts.”

Dahyun’s cheeks turn a dark shade of red. “Yah! I don’t ogle at her!”

 

-

 

Chaeyoung leans against the pinball machine, watching Jihyo play her last ball with a kind of ferociousness that no one should ever mess with. They’ve been playing some mean pinball and Mortal Kombat games for the past hour and Chaeyoung has won almost all the bar’s arcade games except pool, which Jeongyeon won and DanceDance, which Momo and Mina dominate.

“Chae, I’m about to beat your puny ass’s high score,” Jihyo grins from ear to ear, eyes never leaving the pinball landscape before her. Chaeyoung thought she was bluffing but when she saw the numbers growing every time Jihyo’s pinball bounces back to and fro, she noticed Jihyo was a thousand points away from her high score. Her stomach drops. She spent so much of her time trying to get that high score and it pleases her that no one has even dared to touch that high score. She wasn’t _SAJU BAR + ARCADE_ crowned Pinball Princess (she had her own polaroid stuck to the bar’s corkboard) for no reason.

Until now.

Her throne is threatened, she feels that metaphorical crown slipping off her head and Chaeng is nervous.

“Holy shit, she’s gonna do it,” Jeongyeon’s eyes are large with surprise (and fear), “Chaeng, she’s gonna beat you. Jihyo’s going to be the next Pinball Princess.”

“You’re damn right I will be,” Jihyo laughs heartily and Chaeyoung can only grip the neck of her beer bottle tighter, speechless, watching the ball almost falling into the middle but not quite, as it bounces back into the game. _23,450; 23,650; 23,890 —_ if the yellow numbers of Jihyo’s score displayed on the backbox hits _24,231_ , Jihyo will become the next Pinball Princess. “I can’t wait to see the look on Chaeyoungie’s face when—”

The silver ball falls into the outhole, and the sound of the machine taunting Jihyo as she lost adds to the noise of the packed bar and Chaeyoung would have laughed (she does, later anyway) if she wasn’t so relieved that she, Son Chaeyoung, is still the longest standing Pinball Princess of _SANAYEON’S BAR AND ARCADE._

“Christ,” Jihyo thumps her head into the glass. “Almost had it.”

Chaeyoung laughs, touches Jihyo’s back soothingly. “There’s still next time. Trust me on this. I’m the Pinball Princess.”

“Get your hand off my back because I will break it if you don’t.”

Knowing Jihyo, it’s better to do as she says.

Before Chaeyoung can tease her even more about almost beating her high score, Jeongyeon whistles lowly, catching the attention of the other girls. “Cute girl at everyone’s 10 o’clock.” They follow the direction in which Jeongyeon pointed, and Mina’s, Momo’s and Sana’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Minari, Sana, isn’t that Im Nayeon from university?” Mina asks the two girls, who are still busy reeling in from seeing an old friend.

“It sure is,” Momo won’t stop looking at her. “Wow, she… she looks so good. My god. If med school makes you look like that, sign me up.”

Mina lightly hits Momo’s shoulder. “Close your mouth, Moguri, there might be flies that will land in your mouth. Again.” She looks at Nayeon, who stands by the bar, waiting for a drink. “But you’re right, she looks really good. I haven’t seen her in so long. We should talk to her.”

Just as Mina and Momo take a single step towards Nayeon’s direction, a man walks up and sidles up next to her and he seems to be flirting with her. “Who’s that?” Dahyun asks, and it seems like the three girls didn’t know.

It’s obvious that Mina, Momo, and Sana’s friend is bothered by the presence of the man. Chaeyoung can see it in the way her brows are furrowed and her body leans away from any contact with him.

Sana grimaces, “I don’t know him but he’s butt ugly and I don’t want him in my bar bothering my friend. Let’s go.”

They approach the bar, slowly and surely. Mina, Momo and Sana greet their friend, taking Nayeon’s attention from the man. The girl is greatly surprised at the sight of them, and they envelope each other in warm embraces of friends from before.

Jeongyeon steps behind the bar, glaring at the man while she wipes the steel shaker.

“Hey, ladies, I’m sorry but I was talking to this lovely lady right—” the man begins, obviously annoyed by the interruption, but he halts his yapping when Chaeyoung twines her arms around Nayeon’s waist and kisses her cheek.

“Hey, babygirl, sorry I took so long,” Chaeyoung meets Nayeon’s eyes, wide as saucers and she tries so hard to convince the girl whom she barely knows, to play along. Up close, she’s very cute, with her pale skin and her two front teeth which were bigger than the rest. “Uh, who’s your friend?”

Nayeon, thank god, plays along. “Hey, sweetie. These are my friends from university and she turns to the guy. Her voice is low, the way it wraps around her words makes Chaeyoung weak in the knees as it’s directly spoken in her ear. “And he…”

Chaeyoung stares at the man, in what Dahyun called the Condescending Chaeyoung look,(“Can you do that face?” Dahyun asked once. “You know, the one where you make someone feel as if they’re infinitely lesser than you and you are the supreme being?”) and she is beyond glad that the man withers under her stare.

Jihyo and Dahyun appear behind the man, wearing their black winter coats and their shades, with earphones in one of their ears. “Excuse me, Ma’am,” Jihyo says in the most intimidating voice Chaeyoung has ever heard her use. “Is this man bothering you?” Her two friends in black don’t even give Nayeon a chance to respond before hauling him away with a force that Chaeyoung doesn’t even dare to question.

“Thanks for that,” Nayeon says, out of breath. “You’re all very kind.”

“It’s nothing at all,” Jeongyeon replies, grinning from ear to ear and Sana elbows her in the ribcage, not enough to bruise but enough to tell her to shut the hell up. “Ow—okay, it’s really nothing. This is an establishment that doesn’t approve of creepy guys doing their creepy guy stuff on anyone. Especially if you’re Minari, Moguri and Sana’s friend.”

It takes a few moments for Chaeyoung to realize she’s still latched onto Nayeon’s body in a way that strangers shouldn’t be. Scrambling to be in her own space, Chaeyoung blushes and lets go, averting her eyes but not missing the way Mina eyes her suspiciously and she’s seen that look before, the all-knowing, I-can-see-right-through-you look. “S-sorry for that. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable but it didn’t seem like he would stop unless you’d seem taken.” she apologizes. “I’m Chaeyoung.”

“No, it’s appreciated and I thought so too,” Nayeon… blushes? It must be Chaeyoung’s imagination. “Thank you very much. I’m Nayeon, a friend of these three here from university.”

Sana jumps in to introduce all of them to each other. “Nayeon, this cutie right here is Dahyun, then that’s Chaeyoung—our baby tat artist—and this is mommy Jihyo, and this stud right here is my girlfriend, Jeongyeon.”

“Hello,” Nayeon bows and they do too in return even if Nayeon, as Mina told them some time awhile ago, was older than them. Shyly, she continues, “I’m very pleased and thankful to meet all of you.”

“Likewise. We’ll leave you to catch up with these three and we hope to see you around, Nayeonnie! ” Jihyo replies and they sit at a different table, went about their night, picking up the conversation earlier, much to Dahyun’s dismay. “So, Dahyun, you never got to finish your story about that cute girl that comes in every Tuesday and Thursday,” she drawls, resting her elbow on the table and resting her cheek on her fist. Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung do the same, looking more alike than ever, just to ruffle Dahyun’s feathers further.

“Yeah, Dahyun,” Jeongyeon agrees, and if it was possible for Dahyun to be redder than she was awhile, it definitely happened. “Tell us more about her.”

“Well, she’s a college student and she studies Mandarin lit and a dancer and she likes her hot chocolate not too hot and…” Chaeyoung can say the exact same phrases that Dahyun is saying at the top of her lungs because Dahyun talks about the girl, Tzuyu, all the time whenever she drops by at JYP Tattoo Studios. She spares Mina, Sana, Momo and Nayeon a glance and her luck just runs out because Nayeon catches her eyes at precisely the same time Chaeyoung looks—Christ—she looks away, not fast enough and thumps her head on the table.

“What’s wrong, kid?” Jeongyeon asks. “Did you just remember your long Justin Bieber phase back in 2010?” If she told her sister, she would never hear the end of it and opts for deflection.

“Shut it. Jesse McCartney has owned this ass since 2007.”

 

-

 

“It looks _sick_ as hell, Chaeng,” Jackson marvels at Chaeng’s work, staring at the wolf on his bicep that Chaeyoung spent five hours on. It was still red from the needle’s piercing. Jackson almost passed out on the chair in their second hour, but Chaeyoung keeps him awake by thumping his forehead painfully with her fingers.

She laughs. “Thanks, Jackson. It’s just your first session, though. I promise it will look better. Take a pic of it and I’ll bandage it then we’ll run through the S.O.Ps of tattoo healing.”

He does so, snaps a photo of his tattoo (Chaeyoung has to admit it looks pretty damn good) and says, “A picture, for prosperity,” and uploads it on his Instagram, tagging Chaeyoung because she hears her phone vibrate on the table.

She runs him down the protocols of keeping his tattoo clean at all times and to not scratch it when it scabs, then be back in a month after a good healing period.

Chaeyoung walks him out but she’s greeted by the sight of Nayeon, dressed in pastel colors, sitting on one of Chaeyoung’s leather couches, holding blue flowers wrapped so nicely in thin, yellow paper.

“Hey, Nayeon,” Chaeyoung starts, extremely confused by her presence in her shop. “Oh, this is Jackson, my friend and a client. Jackson, this is Nayeon.” They exchange pleasantries and Jackson leaves, but not without ruffling Chaeyoung’s hair, like he always did so.

“Hi, Chaeyoung, right?”

“Yup, what can I do for you? Are you getting a tattoo?”

Nayeon laughs. “No, not at all. Not yet anyway. Mina told me you owned the tattoo parlor across my flower shop and I wanted to get you this.”

The flowers… oh… “You own the new flower shop? I’ve seen the arrangements from my window, they’re extremely gorgeous. T-thank you, for this,” she raises the beautiful, the sweet floral scent under her nose. “Welcome to my humble shop, it was once my uncle’s but he decided to hand it down to me because he wanted to start up his own beach, or something. Please, sit down, let me get you something to drink,” Chaeyoung starts backing away as Nayeon opens her mouth to speak, “Be right ba— _AAH_!”

The next thing she knows is that she’s on her back and everything hurts and a small box from one of the shelves falls on her head—

 

-

 

Chaeyoung stirs, head feeling like it’s been hit by a tin metal box square in the—

Oh.

“She awakens!” Jeongyeon yells, and the rest rush to her bed, crowding the glaring white light of the hospital lights. “I thought you were going to be in a coma forever.”

“Jesus, stop yelling,” Chaeyoung grimaces. Jeongyeon’s voice was annoying enough, and it was even more annoying now. “You sound like—”

“Oh, my baby girl!” Jihyo cries and pushes Jeongyeon away, cradling her head (which still hurt like hell, but this is Jihyo, so she lets her). “How are you feeling? You’ve been out for a few hours!”

She shuts her eyes. “Like a box hit me in the head. What happened anyway?”

They all turn to Nayeon, who stood farthest from her, standing at the foot of her bed.. She’s holding a tiny, potted succulent plant and, while Chaeyoung can’t see well, it’s pretty cute. “I’m not sure why there was a ball on the floor, but when you turned to put the flowers in a vase… you stepped on it and… a box fell on your head. I took you to the hospital and they came as soon as I called Minari.”

The ball. A certain someone was playing with that ball while waiting for his appointment with Chaeyoung. “Jackson…” she says menacingly—he was going to get a piece of her mind the next time he visits for an appointment.

The girls resume talking (yelling) at each other, but a distinct ringing coming from Jeongyeon’s phone, (“Whose ringtone is… Fergalicious?” Mina asks, confused. Jeongyeon grins and takes her phone out of jean’s back pocket. “That would be mine, sorry.”). “Yo, Sunmi! Yeah, she’s here and awake. Hang on.”

Chaeyoung sits up slightly, feeling a tad bit woozy from sleeping and an almost-concussion, probably. “Hey, Sunmi.”

_“Kiddo! I called as soon as I could. What happened?”_

“Jackson left a ball around and I stepped on it and hit my head.”

Sunmi tsked. _“What, is he 12?”_

Knowing Jackson, he probably was. Chaeyoung tells her eldest sister so. _“I’ll make sure to talk to him. You just get some rest, alright? I gotta go now but you guys should call when you need something. I’ll see you in October. Love you.”_

Her eldest sister has been away for some time, and even if Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon see her every year, it’s still not enough. “Miss you, love you too. Tell mom and dad and Uncle JYP I said hi.”

_“Sure will, kiddo. See you.”_

Jeongyeon snuggles up next to her. “I miss you too, sis!”

Things wind down, thankfully, after that phone call. The doctor tells her she’s being released in a few hours. Her friends had their own businesses to attend to and they leave, but not without sweet kisses to Chaeyoung’s cheeks, until Nayeon is the only one left.

The awkward atmosphere unsettles Chaeyoung, so she tries to wave it away with, “Well, saying this is embarrassing is the understatement of the century.”

Nayeon laughs. “No, not at all. If anything, I’d should be more embarrassed. It stressed me out a little because you weren’t waking up but the doctors said that it wouldn’t be anything serious. I can’t help but feel this is my fault so…” she brings the plant within Chaeyoung’s line of sight. “I’m sorry.”

“O-oh, that’s very thoughtful of you, t-thanks,” Chaeyoung grins, taking the small plant. “And please don’t feel that way, if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine and Jackson’s. Don’t worry about it, I’m a-alright. I’m also afraid that I don’t know how to…” she looks at the tiny pot in her hands. “Plant. I don’t know how to plant.”

“It’s very easy,” Nayeon tells her, eyes glinting as she talks about what she probably loved doing the most. “Succulents don’t need much attention. Just some water, and it’ll live.”

Chaeyoung doesn’t trust herself with plants, but the way Nayeon watches her excitedly (and expectedly), she can’t find it in herself to say so. Besides, it’s just watering the damned plant, right? She’s not Jeongyeon. She can handle that like a big girl even if being in Nayeon’s presence makes her so nervous. “Thank you so much. You’ve given me so much in the past twenty four hours and all I’ve given you was a headache.”

“That’s not true,” says Nayeon with a slight frown. “I mean, this is really unfortunate but—I just wanted to return the favor because of what happened in the bar.”

They’ve been going in circles and while Chaeyoung really enjoys making her friends’ heads spin with circling conversations, it really bums her to be on the receiving end. She grins, as confident as she can, but she is sure she looks like a nervous hyena. “Okay. You’re welcome, then. Thanks for bringing me here. I don’t think I’d be alive if you weren’t there to, well, bring me here.”

Nayeon giggles softly. “It’s nothing, I promise.”

There’s a beat of silence before Chaeyoung’s mouth starts talking on its own. “S-so what time should we meet?”

“Pardon?”

Oh.

_Oh no._

_Son Chaeyoung, professional fuck up_ , her gravestone would read.

“Shit—oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, there was this conversation going on in my head and—it’s the painkillers, I’m sure—but I just m-meant to buy y-you lunch tomorro—and I didn’t mean to assume you wanted to go because you’re probably busy but there was just this conversation in my head where you said—”

Nayeon, the angel she is, laughs and it relieves the stress that Chaeyoung is currently experiencing. “I’d love to. Is 1 in the afternoon okay with you?”

“I—what?”

“Is one in the afternoon okay with you?” repeats Nayeon, who was definitely blushing now more than Chaeyoung has ever seen her do so.

It takes a moment to make the gears fit together in her head, until she realizes that Nayeon said yes to lunch with her. She sits up fully, fast enough to give her whiplash. “Ow—Jesus,” Chaeyoung flops back onto to her sitting position and curses herself for acting like a nervous wreck.

“Woah, hold your horses, hotshot,” Nayeon laughs and stands, helping Chaeyoung’s uncomfortable position because, damn her head hurts so much right now. “I said yes, just so you know.”

“I know,” says Chaeyoung, eyes scrunched up hoping that the spinning goes away. It subsides after some time, and she finds her voice, willing herself not to fuck up. “I’m free any time,” she begins, sitting up properly and Nayeon is looking down to her, a few dark strands of hair falling from her ponytail—damn. “So I’ll meet you tomorrow, then? Have you tried the burger place inside Jihyo’s car shop?”

“No, I haven’t,” the girl in front of her looks away. “Why don’t you show me around town? Minari and Moguri told me that you’ve been in this part of the city for some time. You probably know this city better than anyone.”

She doesn’t say that Jihyo has been around longer, so she grins as wide as she can without grimacing and nods. “One in the afternoon sounds great.”

Chaeyoung is suffering whiplash, a painful headache, but she’s seeing Nayeon tomorrow, and there’s a potted plant beside bed and she names it Monet.

 

-

 

Nayeon is great, the food is great and Chaeyoung is enjoying herself so much.

She’s funny and sweet and laughs boisterously with some sauce from the burger on her chin, asks Chaeyoung if it’s alright to call her ‘Chaeng’ like the rest of the girls and it is more than okay, Chaeyoung tells her so.

They’ve never run out of topics and this is one of the best not-dates Chaeyoung has ever had in some time. The conversation flows easily, her cheeks hurt and she doesn’t ever want to stop listening to Nayeon talking, laughing and singing (once Chaeyoung found out she could sing and, damn, the girl can sing).

“So that’s the story of how I almost got arrested when I was trying to drag my high as hell friend from her car and into her dormitory, intoxicated and in high heels.”

Chaeyoung is in stitches, and she’s probably bumped the patch of bruised skin on her forehead on the table that Nayeon laughs harder from that rather than her own story.

Has she mentioned that Nayeon is pretty great?

At the end of the lunch, she finds out that Nayeon left med school to take a break and is taking over her grandmother’s blooming flower business and decided to open a franchise in Chaeyoung’s street. She likes kids and was about to become a pediatrician until med school took its toll and she needed a break or else bad things might have happened.

And Chaeyoung tells Nayeon she’s a fine arts major and was taking an internship at an advertising company until her uncle decided to pass down the small tattoo shop to the only artist in the family. Sunmi had her masters in California, Jeongyeon had just started her own business with Sana and it was a pretty great store, already with a good reputation and a steady pay. She’s designed some tatts for her uncle, so it’s nothing new to her.

They’ve been in each other’s company for at least two hours now, it’s nothing like the kind of awkward lunches Chaeyoung feared so much.

“This is nice,” says Nayeon, breathing harshly from a recent laughing fit. She takes a sip from the strawberry milkshake they ordered and Chaeyoung is going, going, gone.

Before any of them can say anything, a flash of dark red hair interrupts her and Jihyo embracing Chaeyoung, in her dirty overalls when she smells like car oil and metal. “Jesus,” Chaeyoung complains, and her friend smiles.

“Yep, that’s me, Jisoo-s,” she jokes and, while that’s funny, the way Chaeyoung probably smelled like car oil is not. “Hey, Nayeon!”

“Hi, Jihyo,” Nayeon grins and it’s really pretty—her teeth are really pretty, Chaeyoung notices, not for the first time. “Come sit with us. Have you eaten?”

She shakes her head. “My break just started just now, so I hope you guys don’t mind if I joined you.”

“No, not at all,” Nayeon starts and she takes a seat, while Chaeyoung sticks out her tongue at Jihyo, which her friend returns just as childishly.

Of course, Jihyo and Nayeon get along quite easily. Jihyo has always been the socialite amongst all of them, it was beyond easy for her to make conversation and create friendships with people she had just met. And Nayeon was...

Nayeon is pretty great.

Has she said that Nayeon was great?

Nayeon is pretty damn great, Chaeyoung red as a tomato, and Jihyo is covered in grease and is devouring the remaining pieces of bacon potato wedges from the bowl.

It’s great and Chaeyoung can’t stop smiling, even after their not-date extends back to the shop where she and Nayeon play board games that have been stored in her closet since 19-so and so mixed with new ones from her, Jeongyeon’s and Sunmi’s childhoods.

(They skip Monopoly entirely, because they both agreed that it was the most boring game there. “Maybe next time,” Nayeon comments, and Chaeyoung’s stomach drops pleasantly at the thought of a next time.)

She can’t stop smiling as they act like a bunch of twelve year olds, running around the tattoo parlor and trying to shoot at each other with the Nerf guns Jeongyeon leaves in her room, and it’s pretty fun even if they break one of the frames at the front desk.

She can’t stop smiling until she sees that it’s pretty dark outside and that they should be in their respective shops, Chaeyoung should get ready for an early client tomorrow asking for an intricate tiger tattoo she’s been working on for quite some time, and she offers to walk Nayeon across the street.

(“I’ll walk you to your shop.”

Nayeon giggles and it’s seriously becoming Chaeyoung’s favorite sound. “No, it’s fine. It’s just right across.”

Chaeyoung rubs the back of her neck and opens the door. “Which is exactly why I should walk you to your shop. It’s just there.”)

They say their goodbyes after a few moments of not wanting the day to end. “This was nice,” Nayeon says, similar to the way she said it earlier at the small burger place inside Jihyo’s car shop. “Can we do it again?”

 _This is a not-date, this is a not-date, this is a not-date_ , Chaeyoung chastises herself. She grins shyly and looks at the floor, anywhere but Nayeon. “How else are we going to play Monopoly?”

Nayeon only grins, stepping down a few steps and, before Chaeyoung notices, there are soft lips pressed to her cheek so fleetingly, just like how Nayeon kisses her cheek then leaves quickly that it doesn’t register in her mind that Im Nayeon just kissed me until she’s back in her own room, in her bed, that she starts yelling and blushing and covering her face to muffle the said yells before she wakes up the entire neighborhood (Nayeon included) from her flustered yelling. She looks at the succulent on the table, recently watered and remembers _. Im Nayeon just kissed me on the cheek._

 

-

 

It never ceases to amaze her (or anyone, really), how Momo’s stomach is a void that can engulf anything infinitely. She’s on her second plate of food while Mina takes a seat to start eating, and Chaeyoung has just started on the garlic bread of her pasta.

“Where were you yesterday?” Momo asks, with half-masticated pork rolling around in her mouth. Chaeyoung and Mina are unfazed by this. “Minari and I went to your shop to bring you food for lunch but you weren’t there.”

“Yeah, we were slightly worried,” says Mina absently, wiping some sauce off Momo’s chin like a mother and her messy child, muttering a small ‘thanks’, before eating like a slob once more. “Dahyun didn’t get to see you leave too.”

Chaeyoung sips from her soda. “I had lunch with Nayeon.”

The look Mina and Momo give each other earns them a glare. “What was that?”

Momo has the nerve to look innocent. “What was what?”

“That. That look you gave Minari. When I told you guys I had that lunch with Nayeon?” There’s that look again. “You know what, I don’t even want to know.” Chaeyoung frowns, turning back to her food.

A silence ensues, only the clinking of metal chopsticks and ceramic plate.

“Okay but seriously, what’s with the looking at each other when I mention Nayeon.” The two are about to share another look but Chaeyoung stops them, sitting up and pointing at the pair of them. “There it is! What’s up with that?”

Mina bites her lip and engages in what seems to Chaeyoung a telepathic conversation with Momo, only defined with the movement of their eyebrows and the corners of their lips curling up or down.

It seems like they settle for Mina to start talking. “Chae… do you have a crush on Nayeon?”

It takes a full ten seconds for Mina’s words to be understood by her brain, then when she realizes that she does have a crush on Nayeon, the phrase echoes in her brain in an unending cycle until her brain is barely able to process anything other than the fact that oh my god, she has crush on Nayeon, _oh my god, oh my god, oh my g—_

“Ow!” She flinches out of her panic day dream and clutches the bruise on her forehead where Momo had flicked painfully, with her fingers. “Jesus, you could have just tried to shake me out of it!”

Mina, the good soul she is, looks every bit of apologetic that Momo probably doesn’t feel. “We tried but every time you go on your feelings-panic-mode you don’t respond to anything that doesn’t involve a small amount of pain.”

Her feelings-panic-mode, as Mina liked to call it when they were together, was when Chaeyoung completely shuts herself off when she realizes there are… feelings… involved. And with Nayeon, Chaeyoung realizes, there are feelings involved, most definitely.

She buries her face in her hands, groaning inwardly. It’s not news that her friends had to point out her feelings for someone yet it still makes her as embarrassed as she was the first time her friends had noticed she has feelings for someone before she realizes so.

“It’s okay, Chaeng,” Momo offers poorly, “I mean, it’s just a crush, right?”

Chaeyoung nods and Mina and Momo know better than to ask her about these things even (or especially) if her romantic interests are involved. They leave her be, let Chaeyoung overthink everything and enjoy their meals.

It’s only a few minutes later she snaps back to consciousness when Mina and Momo bicker with each other, in a way that Chaeyoung notices has been happening quite often now as anyone would like.

“Moguri, your mom told me to watch over what you eat—”

“This is my restaurant, they handed it down to me and they what? Revoke my rights to eat as I please? Are you calling me fat?”

“No—goodness, no, your abs say no—but Moguri, your mother will kill you if—” Mina halts when she sees that Chaeyoung is now conscious of her surroundings, once back from her brief feelings-panic state.

The sight of Mina and Momo arguing was a rare one, as Mina almost never raises her voice but Chaeyoung has probably missed a large part of their conversation because now, the two are flushed with frustration.

“Woah, hey,” Chaeyoung raises her hands to stop the two from yelling at each other. “Relax. What’s gotten into both of you?”

They don’t talk with their eyebrows and their mouths as Chaeyoung expected, but they do share shy, apologetic glances. Momo opts for aversion, uncharacteristically pushing away her food, visibly upset by their bickering. “Nothing, it’s fine. I was just hungry.”

Mina looks down at her plate and four years of being Mina’s friend (two being her girlfriend) Chaeyoung knows that this is distressing Mina as much as it does Momo. She doesn’t comment on it though, just changes the subject which the two girls latch on to immediately, as if nothing happened. “So, what’s going to happen with this Nayeon thing?”

Chaeyoung blushes. “I… I don’t know. It’s just fun being around her. It doesn’t feel like she’s five years older than me and on the way to be a doctor.”

Her friends laugh, fond of the memory of Nayeon always acting younger than her age. “She’s always like that,” says Mina, “never a dull moment with her. I felt bad we just kind of went each other’s ways without even bothering to stay connected.”

Momo turns to Mina, slightly ruffled by their argument earlier but trying to Mina back with sweetness and kind eyes that no one can deny her anything she wanted. “Well, she was in med school and I’ve heard that it’s hard to keep friendships when you’re under that much pressure. You said you spent the entire day together, what’d you do?”

“Played dumb board games and more laughing and then running around my shop and—”

She stops, blushes, almost melts on the spot.

“And what?” prompts Mina, the two leaning forward on their table.

“She…”

“Spit it out, Chaeyoung!”

“She kissed my cheek and I freaked out after she left and it’s totally not cool!”

There is a short silence before Mina and Momo let out boisterous laughter (as boisterous as Mina can laugh), Chaeyoung waits for the ground to eat her alive. “It’s not funny,” she pouts, but when she thinks of it, it’s pretty damn funny how she is such a mess around her.

“I’m sorry, Chaeng, it really is,” Momo breathes in between heaves of laughter and Mina can’t even speak from the soundless laughter that comes from her but her eyes are starting to water. “It’s just so… she likes you, okay?”

Mina composes herself, takes a few deep breaths and speaks. “I know Nayeon. She likes skinship but not to the point that she’d kiss your cheek like that and, oh my goodness, you’re as red as your sweater.”

“Am not!”

“Are too!” Momo shoots back, reaching over to pinch Chaeyoung’s reddened cheek. “You’re so cute when you have it bad for your crush.”

“Am not,” mutters Chaeyoung in response, but Mina and Momo look at her like they find her frustration adorable. Knowing them, they probably do. She folds her hands on the table and rests her forehead on it, gently. “Ugh, what do I do. You know I’m not good at these… feelings things.”

“I think Jeongyeon’s number one rule would apply to this.”

“Which one is that? She has, like, seven #1 rules.”

“The ‘Rule #1: Don’t Do Shit’ one.”

Chaeyoung nods. “Ah. That one. How is that relevant right now? And you know better than to trust Jeongyeon’s judgment.”

Shooting Momo a small glare, Mina turns to Chaeyoung and speaks in the same manner that reminds her of her own mother and Mina’s mother. “I think she means that you just let this happen. It’s still pretty early to know what she really means but you know, you should be friends first and just enjoy getting to know each other."

“Yeah, she’s right.” Momo nods and grins. “Took the words straight out of my mouth and made it nicer. Just Mina Things.”

It made sense, what Mina said. She was still as overwhelmed as she was earlier about having… feelings for Nayeon after just a short amount of time but she was fickle and it was only right to wait certain things out.

It’s times like these she was beyond grateful she and Mina stayed really good friends after their break up two years ago. Chaeyoung wouldn’t have been the person she is now if it weren’t for Mina, and she knows it’s true for Mina, too. Mina was her friend first before they happened and while Jihyo could have offered great help, too, Chaeyoung thought was better not being threatened to have a wrench hammered on her head for acting dumb from time to time. She cringes at the thought of a wrench to her head.

A muffled groan escapes her and Momo’s hand rubs her back in consolation. “Hey, buddy, it’s fine. It’s not as embarrassing as when happened on Valentine’s day 2012—”

“Shut it, unless you never want to have my extra spuds from the Burger Shop.”

That effectively quiets down Momo and leaves Chaeyoung to her sulking.

_I like Im Nayeon and I don’t know what to do._

**Author's Note:**

> leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed!!!


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